Company: Bank Client Protection Community Initiates Model Laws Against VW and Daimler

Stand: 15:46 | Reading time: 2 minutes

reThe new prosecution model is aimed not only at satisfying VW's customers, but also at Daimler: the bank client protection community has filed suit against both manufacturers in the Brunswick Regional Superior Court (OLG) and the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart, as announced Friday. The badociation wants to use the loan agreements of Volkswagen Bank and Mercedes-Benz Bank so that customers can return their car against the refund of the total purchase price.

In its model determination actions, the badociation aims for possible errors in the consumer credit agreements of the Group's credit institutions as of June 2014. According to the company, the protection badociation holds the statement of revocation of contracts of Volkswagen Bank and Mercedes-Benz Bank to challenge, with which car buyers have financed their vehicles.

If the complaints are deemed incomplete, "people can terminate their loan agreements by returning the vehicle," said Jörg Schädtler, president of Protective Community, to AFP. The lawsuits filed the protection community Thursday afternoon.

Repayment of credit agreements is basically possible if the customer has not been sufficiently informed of his right of withdrawal and its consequences. The state of the vehicle purchased, including any possible throttling of exhaust emissions or incorrect information on pollutant emissions, does not matter. Therefore, the possibility of redemption in this way also goes beyond what is applicable to the statute of limitations of the diesel scandal.

On this possibility – also for individual complaints – said Friday also the consumer center of Hamburg. Their expert, Gabriele Schmitz, is surprised that so far only relatively few car buyers have taken this route. "Many probably do not even know that they have this opportunity at all," she offered interested parties the legal advice of the Consumer Center.

On Thursday night, just in time for the introduction of the prosecution model, the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv) and the ADAC had filed a first lawsuit model against Volkswagen for the diesel scandal. They want to show that Volkswagen deliberately damaged and misled customers with its handling of exhaust gases.

The responsible OLG first reviews court actions for eligibility purposes; then consumers can become active. Examples of lawsuits are published in a register of the Federal Office of Justice, where they can register and join the trial.

The model declaration trial came into effect on Thursday night. With the new legal instrument, consumers – represented by badociations – can better enforce their rights against companies in court. The federal government had set a tight schedule for the introduction of the complaint, so that any claims of diesel owners for the benefit of VW do not expire.